


Little Things

by SpaceSquirrelQueen



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-09
Updated: 2018-06-09
Packaged: 2019-05-20 07:43:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14890412
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceSquirrelQueen/pseuds/SpaceSquirrelQueen
Summary: Sometimes it was the little things that made the biggest differences.





	Little Things

**Author's Note:**

> This just kind of popped into my head today and I really wanted to write it down. It's something I can imagine Adrien doing, just because of the kind of person he is.
> 
> This isn't connected to the Second Chances universe and is a stand alone. Pretty short, but I hope you enjoy.
> 
> There are no warnings to apply. Just simple sweetness from the sunshine child.

Cat Noir crouched on the edge of a grocers building, watching as the people below picked up their belongings and returned to their lives. There had been an akuma attack on the edge of Paris, a local community that had less money than those who lived more in the city center but were still able to get by. The rent was still high, and people struggled, but on the whole it appeared that everyone was happy. The akuma attack had revealed something a little different though.

 

The akuma had been an older man, angry that his credit card had been declined at the grocers, the same grocer whose roof Cat Noir occupied now, and had gone on a rampage. The akuma had flung food everywhere, turning benches into bread, trees into broccoli, and so on. When he started turning people into chocolate, that’s when everyone began to panic. Ladybug and Cat Noir had been careful not to cause more damage, in case someone had been turned into something other than chocolate, and Cat Noir had managed to help Ladybug finish the fight without using his cataclysm. Now he watched as four children sat in front of a bench and cried, their distraught mother desperately trying to calm them so they could go home. She had a tan grocer bag on her left arm that was barely full, and what Cat Noir could see of the vegetables inside was a disappointment. The vegetables were barely edible, and the children were still crying for bread.

 

Ladybug had left already, her earrings flashing and trilling at her in warning, and he was still here. Unsure of what to do, but wanting to do something. He wasn’t poor, he had everything he’d ever wanted or even needed, and he had his own account. He hesitated, then pulled himself away from the building edge and found a good hiding spot before dropping his transformation. Plagg appeared, a concerned look on his face as Adrien dug into his pocket.

 

“I know what you want to do,” Plagg said, and Adrien frowned. “If you want to keep your identity secret, I wouldn’t use a credit card.” Adrien froze, looking up at Plagg with wide eyes, and the kwami shrugged. “I’ve had chosen who knew hunger, and I’ve had ones like you who never have. All of them except one have felt the urge to keep others from feeling hunger like those kids. I’m not going to stop you from helping.” Adrien grinned, grabbed Plagg out of the air and hugged him close.

 

“Thank you!” He whispered, and Plagg snorted.

 

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, and purred anyway. Adrien made sure to feed him camembert before digging into his wallet for cash. He had several hundred dollar bills tucked away in a hidden pocket because Nino had seen them and panicked at the sight when they were out for lunch near the Eiffel Tower one weekend.

 

“Adrien!” The boy had hissed, covering Adrien’s wallet and glancing around before pulling the blonde close. “Hide that wallet and don’t ever carry around that much money again! You’re just asking to get robbed!”

 

“What?” Adrien had asked, confused, and Nino had dug out his own wallet from a bag clasped around his waist.

 

“We’re in one of the biggest tourist cities in the world and there are pick pockets everywhere! You’re going to get mugged if people know you’re carrying that much cash daily! If you open your wallet, have a couple twenties. Never carry hundreds!” Nino had whispered. “And don’t carry your wallet in your back pocket, it *will* disappear!” Adrien had nodded then, allowed Nino to get him a pack that went under his shirt to keep his wallet in, and had decided to test Nino’s advice by folding a fifty in half and putting it in his pants pocket. When he got home that afternoon after being jostled around at the Eiffel Tower, the fifty had been gone.

 

Adrien had kept his more expensive bills in an inner pocket of his wallet after that, keeping only a few twenties and sometimes a fifty visible. Now he tugged out the hundreds, counted out five and tucked the other three away. Since starting school he’d learned that not everyone carried so much money on them, and many people didn’t have that much to carry anyway. As Plagg finished his cheese, Adrien wondered if the woman with the children would even accept his money. Just because someone had less, didn’t mean they didn’t have pride in what they did have after working hard. Alya’s father was one of those who didn’t appreciate people buying things for him, and Adrien had learned that the hard way when he offered to buy the man lunch once when Mr Cesaire hadsupervised an outing Adrien, Marinette, Alya and Nino had wanted to go on. Mr Cesaire had been polite enough turning Adrien down, but he’d refused to talk to the blonde for the rest of the evening until Alya had pulled him aside and explained that Adrien had not meant any disrespect. Adrien himself had been confused until Nino explained the issue, and when Adrien apologized, the larger man had looked flustered, rolled his eyes, and mussed up the blondes hair. Mr Cesaire had been a lot nicer to Adrien since then.

 

“Plagg?” Adrien asked, pulling himself back to the present and looking at the kwami who stared back with bright green eyes. “What if she won’t accept this?” Plagg frowned a little.

 

“Don’t give her the money,” the little kwami said. “Offer to buy her children bread, and then ask the kids if there’s anything else they want. Tell her you want to do something for them. Parents will do just about anything for their kids, and Cat Noir’s a big deal. She won’t deny them some time with you.” Adrien hesitated, and Plagg flew over and nuzzled his face. “Be sneaky. We’re cats, sneaky is what we do.” Adrien snickered.

 

“Sure,” he agreed, and took a deep breath. “Claws Out!” Plagg zipped into his ring and in a flash of light, Cat Noir stood in the place of Adrien Agreste with several hundred dollars in this hand. He tucked it into one of his front zipper pockets, zipping the pocket closed and went back to the edge of the building. The woman was sitting on the ground now, tears on her own face as she hugged two of her children close. The other two sat next to her looking defeated. He did not like those looks, and people were either shooting the family sympathetic looks, judgmental looks, or just ignoring the family all together. Cat Noir took another deep breath, bent down, and leapt off of the building.

 

He landed in the tree next to the small family, making them jump at the sound and look up, and the tiniest child, a little blonde girl, gasped with uncontained glee.

 

“KITTY!” She cried, grubby little hands reaching for Cat Noir and opening and closing. He grinned at her, dropping down to the ground and landing lightly, staying crouched as the girl escaped her worried mother and ran right to him. The child wrapped surprisingly strong arms around his neck and hugged him before planting a sloppy little kiss on his cheek. He hugged her back and laughed.

 

“You’re so sweet!” He said, ignoring people who were pausing behind him and pulling out their cell phones in excitement. The child pulled away and he saw she had bright blue eyes. “Thank you! What did this unworthy kitty do to deserve your affection?” The other three children, all boys, ran up to join their little sister with wide and happy matching blue eyes as their mother stood up with a nervous expression.

 

“You stopped the bad guy!” One of the boys exclaimed. The tallest one frowned a little.

 

“I wish you’d left the bread behind though. We’re hungry,” he stated, and his mother gasped.

 

“William!” She cried, her eyes darting around to the crowd, and Cat Noir forced a smile.

 

“Me too,” he lied. “That bread looked really good didn’t it?” The children all nodded, their faces falling as their mother came closer. “Say, I’m not from this area. Do you know any good bakeries?” The second tallest boy pointed down the street but said nothing. The youngest boy twisted his shirt in his hands.

 

“Domonique’s always smells really good,” he said. “Papa gets us sweet bread there at Christmas.”

 

“Sounds delicious,” Cat Noir said, looking up at the mother. “Maybe you guys could take me there.” The children fidgeted. “I don’t like eating alone,” their eyes went wide and hopeful. “And I’ve been saving my money for a long time so… wanna go get some lunch with me?” The little girl squealed in delight, clapping her hands as the boys rounded on their mother.

 

“Can we? Can we?” They asked, and Cat Noir turned wide soulful eyes on the mother.

 

“Please?” He begged. “I’m buying,” he added when he saw her hesitate. She looked back and forth between him and her children before sighing and nodding. All four of the children cheered and tackled Cat Noir to the ground. He went down laughing, his arms full of wiggling children.

 

***

 

Two nights later he sat atop a roof in downtown Paris, smiling as the lights flickered on as the sky darkened. He loved the sunsets, and he loved the sight of Paris at night. A zipping noise behind him had him turning, and he looked to see Ladybug land and he grinned.

 

“Good evening my Lady!” He said cheerfully, his feet swinging as he dangled them over the edge of the roof. “It’s a beautiful night isn’t it?” She smiled at him, walking over and dropping down to sit beside him before nudging him with her shoulder and handing him a folded up piece of newspaper. He frowned at it.

 

“People still buy these?” He asked, holding it with two fingers playfully and giving her a playful scrunched up face look. She made a face back, smiling still, and swatted his shoulder.

 

“Just read it,” she said, and he snickered as he unfolded the paper. He paused at the picture on the front of him and the little family he’d bought food for. He’d managed to convince the mother to let him help her get groceries for the children, and the picture was of him carrying several bags of groceries, a child hanging on each arm and the little girl playing with his tail.

 

“Cat Noir helps feed local family,” he read, “inspires locals start up donations to help struggling families pay for groceries.” He grinned and looked at Ladybug who was smiling proudly at him. “That’s awesome!” Ladybug nudged him, her eyes bright.

 

“You’re awesome,” she told him, and he blushed. “That was very sweet of you.” She hesitated. “Maybe next time… I can help too?” Cat Noir gave her a wide eyed look and she blushed. “I don’t have a lot, but this is our city and I want to help too.” Cat Noir smiled at her.

 

“You already do a lot,” he said, and she shrugged.

 

“Maybe I can do more?” She asked, and he shrugged.

 

“We patrol,” he told her. “We stop muggings and robberies, I’ve changed like six flat tires in the last two months and I think you gave someone CPR when I wasn’t there.” Ladybug shuddered at that one, rubbing her arms.

 

“That one was scary,” she admitted, and Cat Noir nodded. “I like feeding people, making sure they have clothes they need. Stuff like that. The rest is…” she paused and shrugged. “I do it because I want everyone to feel safe. I want to protect them.” Cat Noir nodded.

 

“Yeah,” he agreed. “Me too.” Ladybug smiled at him, and to his immense surprise and delight, she rested her head on his shoulder.

 

“There’s a soup kitchen that opens on Saturday that needs volunteers this weekend,” she said softly. “Wanna go?”

 

“It’s a date,” Cat Noir replied, grinning.

 

***

 

Ten years later he found himself on a roof top again, watching a man and his young son beg for change. They’d been evicted from their home and all they had left was the clothing on their backs. The boy, who couldn’t be older than seven, was crying as he clung to his father. His father looked scruffy, tired, and frantic to feed his boy. Cat Noir bit his lip, hesitating as Ladybug landed beside him.

 

“What wrong?” She asked, and he looked at her before nodding at the man and his son.

 

“I want to help them,” he said, and she tilted her head to the side.

 

“Why don’t you?” She asked, and he frowned as she put a hand on his shoulder.

 

“I would but…” he looked at her, worried. “I mean, before it was just my money I was giving to people. But now…” he tangled his fingers with hers, pulling her knuckles to his mouth and laying a kiss on them. “Now we share everything.” She smiled lovingly at him.

 

“We have enough,” she said, making him look at her with wide eyes. “We can share.”

 

“Share enough to help this guy until he gets on his feet again?” He asked, nodding at the man who was now being shoved back against a wall as people pushed past him and his son and ignored them. A few people gave him some money, and he thanked them, but in all it wasn’t going to get them a roof over their heads for the night. Ladybug shrugged.

 

“I think we can manage it. Just… get him something he can still afford when he gets back on his feet that isn’t in a bad part of town,” she advised and Cat Noir grinned at her.

 

“I love you,” he said, and she kissed him.

 

“I love you too,” she said, and nodded at the man who was now picking up his son and holding him close. “Let’s go help our people, yeah?”

 

“Yeah,” Cat Noir said with a nod, standing. “Our people.”

 

Cat Noir and Ladybug smiled at each other before leaping down and approaching the man and his son, the man staring at them with wide eyes. When they put their arms around him and led him away to feed him and his son, the child grinned and the man burst into tears. Being a hero didn’t always mean taking out akuma or beating up bad guys. Sometimes being a hero meant giving. Sometimes, it was the little things that meant more.

 

Sometimes, what felt like a little thing to one was a big thing to someone else.

 

 

 

END

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this. Feel free to leave comments and I hope that you all have a great day! Thank you for reading this little blurb.
> 
> Also, I know that not everyone has the kind of cash flow Adrien does to donate and help people with. Sometimes you don't have to donate money to help folks. Donating time helps folks out too. ^^
> 
> The thing about hiding your wallet that Nino kind of talks about actually happened to a friend of mine when she visited Paris, France in high school. She was warned to use a pack they gave everyone to hold their money and she didn't listen and stuck five dollars in her pocket. When she got back to the hotel the five was gone. She listened to their guide from then on out. I based Nino's warning off of that.
> 
> To all of you who do donate time and/or money to help others, thank you. Thank you for being somebody's hero.


End file.
